The Road to Guilford Courthouse

John Buchanan

Description

A brilliant account of the proud and ferocious American fighters who stood up to the British forces in savage battles crucial in deciding both the fate of the Carolina colonies and the outcome of the war.

"A tense, exciting historical account of a little known chapter of the Revolution, displaying history writing at its best."--Kirkus Reviews

"His compelling narrative brings readers closer than ever before to the reality of Revolutionary warfare in the Carolinas."--Raleigh News & Observer

"Buchanan makes the subject come alive like few others I have seen." --Dennis Conrad, Editor, The Nathanael Greene Papers

"John Buchanan offers us a lively, accurate account of a critical period in the War of Independence in the South. Based on numerous printed primary and secondary sources, it deserves a large reading audience." --Don Higginbotham, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Sujets

• Revolutionary Periode
• Histoire
• Battle of Guilford Court House
• Guerrilla warfare
• American Revolution
• United States
• History
• John Buchanan

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 1999
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781620459218
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Road to Guilford Courthouse
The Road to Guilford Courthouse
The American Revolution in the Carolinas
John Buchanan
The illustration on the title page is A View of Charles Town by Thomas Leitch, c. 1773-1774. From the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Used with permission.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1997 by John Buchanan. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc.
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], E-Mail: PERMREQ @ WILEY.COM.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Buchanan, John
The road to Guilford Courthouse : the American revolution in the Carolinas / John Buchanan,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-471-32716-6 (paper)
1. North Carolina-History-Revolution, 1775-1783-Campaigns.
2. South Carolina-History-Revolution, 1775-1783-Campaigns.
3. United States-History-Revolution, 1775-1783-Campaigns.
I. Title.
E263.N8B83 1997
973.393-dc20 96-9575
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8
To my wife, Susi, and my brother, Charles
Contents
Preface
Prologue: Charleston

1 The Battle of Sullivan s Island
2 The Rice Kings
3 Southern Strategy
4 The Approach March
5 Charleston Besieged
6 The Rise of Banastre Tarleton
7 Into the Back Country
8 Hearts and Minds
9 Trouble in the Back Country
10 More Trouble in the Back Country
11 A Hero Takes Charge
12 The Battle of Camden
13 The Partisans Fight On
14 The Rise of Patrick Ferguson
15 To Catch Ferguson
16 King s Mountain
17 Retreat and Turmoil
18 A General from Rhode Island
19 The Stage is Set
20 Tarleton Pursues Morgan
21 Cowpens
22 Bayonets and Zeal
23 Patience and Finesse
24 Guilford Courthouse: Long, Obstinate, and Bloody

The Major Characters in Order of Appearance and What Happened to Them
Notes
A Select and Annotated Bibliography
Index
Preface
This book is about the British campaign of 1780-1781 to regain the Carolinas from the American Rebels. On learning of my subject, a friend of mine, well educated, well read, intellectually curious, looked surprised and admitted, I really don t know what happened south of Philadelphia. He is not alone. Despite copious writings and intense study beginning in the decade it occurred and continuing to this day, it remains for the reading public an historical terra incognita. Yet the tactical masterpiece of the War of the Revolution occurred in the South, and a battle long, bloody, and obstinate that went far in deciding the great issue at stake. We will also witness in the southern Back Country a little known but savage civil war far exceeding anything in the North.
Now to turn to a few technical matters. Eighteenth-century spelling, although somewhat imaginative, is not a challenge to comprehension, and I have transcribed words as spelled by the writers without the intrusion of the annoying (sic). I have also retained the erratic but delightful eighteenth-century manner of captalization. Punctuation is a different matter. Ours is a vast improvement over eighteenth-century practice, in which overuse of commas and semicolons is exasperating when reading and transcribing. I have been occasionally ruthless in eliminating the many marks so dear to those pesky punctuators, but not, I emphasize, at the risk of creating ambiguities or changing meanings.
I use the term English and British interchangeably, although British rightly referred then as now to English, Scots, Welsh, Anglo-Irish, and the Protestant inhabitants of the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland-and those Americans who stayed loyal to the Crown and became known to their enemies and forevermore as Tories. The latter called themselves Loyalists and sometimes in battle to identify themselves, King s Friends. It is currently fashionable to use their terminology, but I prefer Tory because it is short, descriptive, and sanctified by two centuries of popular usage: there can be no mistake to whom one is referring.
For the same reasons I use the word Rebel to refer to the American revolutionaries. They never used the word. They called themselves Whigs or Patriots. It will be quite clear in the text that when I refer to the American army, or American militia, I am referring to the Rebels. The Tories were also Americans, of course, but one has to draw the line somewhere.
In the eighteenth century the word partisan in the military sense had two meanings. It was used to describe light troops trained for skirmishing at the van or on the flanks of an army on the move, as rear guards for a retreating army, and also for scouting, sentry duty, raids, foraging, and so on. Ideally, light troops were fast moving and did not require the cumbersome, slow-moving wagon trains that marked eighteenth-century armies. Daniel Morgan, who obviously had given the matter considerable thought, believed it was incompatible with the nature of light troops to be encumbered with baggage, and ordered 100 packsaddles so that supplies and provisions could be carried by pack horses. Light troops were chosen for speed afoot, agility, marksmanship, and other physical and mental attributes that would serve them well on special missions. But it should be clearly understood that these men were regulars in every sense of the word. The German J gers were light troops, and one source quoted often in this book, the J ger Captain Johann Ewald, regular soldier to the core, referred to himself as a partisan captain.
The second meaning of partisan in the eighteenth century referred to irregular fighters, or, as we more commonly say today, guerrillas, a word that first appeared in English early in the nineteenth century in connection with the Spanish uprising against Napoleon s armies. During World War II, partisan was the word used to refer to irregulars in Russia and Eastern Europe, especially Marshal Tito s forces in Yugoslavia; but since then guerrilla has become the common description of such fighting men. I raise this point because of Captain Ewald s use of the word, and also because I have followed tradition and use partisan (and occasionally guerrilla) in the text to refer to the Back Country militia of the Carolinas led by such men as Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, Andrew Pickens, and several less well-known but formidable characters whom we will meet along the way.
Until 1783, Charleston was spelled Charlestown and Charles-Town, but unless within a quotation I use the modern spelling throughout.
It is customary to thank one s spouse last, but Susi s support, advice, and cheerful willingness to tramp more battlefields than she cares to remember deserve top billing. I can never express how much I owe her, for so long and in so many ways.
At John Wiley Sons I am deeply grateful to my good friend Charles Ellis, who asked to read the manuscript, found it deserving of serious consideration, then stepped back and let the system work. I could not have asked for a more skilled and sympathetic editor than Hana Umlauf Lane. And I must not fail to also thank her husband, John Lane, who represents the kind of reader for whom the book is meant. The same may be said for Joanne Palmer, whose interest in the book and careful work on its production are very much appreciated.
A friend and former colleague at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bradford Kelleher, counseled me on the publishing world he knows so well and offered encouragement as well as good food, fine wine, and engaging conversation.
I owe much to Dr. Dennis M. Conrad, who read most of the manuscript and saved me from errors that were if not compromising at least embarrassing, and led me to a few sources I had neglected as well as helped me with the maps. I am very grateful for his assistance and trenchant critique. Although he will continue to disagree with some of my assertions and assessments, his input made it a better book. I hasten to add that all the contents are my responsibiity, not his.
Ranger Virginia Fowler at the Cowpens National Battlefield Park was helpful with place names then and now. Joe Anderson, Superintendent, Landsford Canal State Park, South Carolina, kindly directed me to the fording place. Christopher C. Revels of the King s Mountain National Military Park tracked down an image of the elusive Patrick Ferguson. I am most grateul to all these dedicated public servants.
Professors John Mack Faragher and Don Higginbotham were prompt, courteous, and informative in reply to my queries.
In the Department of Arms Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Donald LaRocca, Associate Curator, and Robert Carroll, Armorer, were unstinting of their time and expertise on technical matters relating to eighteenth-century muskets and rifles. If I did not get it right, the fault is mine. The head of the Department, Stuart Phyrr, kindly allowed me to use the departmental library.
My good fortu